How to make a horse-themed birthday party unforgettable for kids? With activities centered around horses that suit your child and their guests! Here you’ll find plenty of tips and inspiration for planning, preparation, decoration, and specific activities for a horse-themed party for both girls and boys.
Your child wants a horse party? Excellent! Because whether it’s a boy or a girl, the horse theme has everything you need to create an unforgettable birthday celebration. When planning, I always focus on organizing the activities, as they are the most important for my child and their guests: responsible for fun and laughter, proud moments when something goes well, energetic activities, and creative moments.
Decoration, food, and drinks are just extras for the kids, with the main emphasis on creating the right atmosphere and mood. There’s a whole stable full of beautiful creative program points and ideas for affordable decoration, snacks, and drinks that are easy to implement for your horse-themed party. Instead of many small inexpensive items in the party favor bag, we prefer a larger, personalized memento of the horse party for all children to take home. Ideally, something handmade or earned.
Dear little horse enthusiasts, hold on tight in the saddle, on your special day, your home transforms, and you’ll experience exciting adventures with majestic four-legged friends.
Ideas for an Unforgettable Horse-Themed Birthday Party
![Horse Themed Birthday Party Ideas For Games Crafts Amp More "A real pony or horse to pet and ride is the highlight of every horse themed birthday party"](https://www.abenteuerfreundschaft.de/relaunch/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/pferdeparty-kindergeburtstags-pferd.jpg)
Adjust the program and design of the horse party to your child’s age and specific interests.
1. Preparation and Party Checklist
A party checklist is immensely helpful in saving time and stress. Sit down, answer the most important questions, and create a to-do list. Before preparing individual program points, I always sketch the program with alternative points for myself. Not everything will be played or crafted. But it’s simply impossible to know 100% in advance when the kids will need a quiet program point or an energetic one.
Once the checklist and rough program are ready, create a to-do list for the horse party. I order online or buy in-store, stress-free, decoration, materials for games and crafts, and small gifts, and prepare everything.
Answer these 9 essential questions for the party checklist for the horse-themed birthday party, and you’ll quickly get a party structure and to-dos:
- How many children are invited and coming?
- How many adults do I need for supervision, and whom do I ask?
- Where does the horse party take place? Only at home or also outside or only outside? Is there a treasure hunt leading to a specific location?
- Is it possible to organize a real horse, or is there a paddock with horses nearby?
- What is suitable to eat and drink for the horse-themed party?
- What horse-themed decoration is available, is there time for crafting, or does it need to be purchased?
- Which program points (games, craft projects, activities) are planned, and what needs to be acquired and prepared for them?
- What small gifts will the little guests receive?
For horse party activities, less is more! It’s good and important to prepare alternative program points, but the younger the children, the less program is needed. Because 4 to 6-year-olds still need time for free play, and their attention span is limited. They already engage in role-playing. For most children aged 6 and above, it’s different, and by the age of 8, a full-day program with a treasure hunt as a side program is popular.
2. Location and Decoration for the Hors-themed Party
Is there a riding stable or a paddock with horses nearby? Then go there as a program point! Real horses are guaranteed to be a hit at any horse-themed birthday party for kids.
However, you usually don’t have a real horse or pony on hand, and you don’t need one at all. If you’re planning craft projects, the horse party should definitely take place indoors, where you can prepare the space for crafting. If, like us, you live in a big city with gigantic themed playgrounds and great green spaces, check if there’s an adventure playground with great climbing structures matching the theme nearby. In Berlin, for example, there’s a Western-themed playground… Planning a riding course? You can save a lot of time and nerves by using the obstacles on the playground and not having to set up a course in the garden or backyard!
Ideas for Decoration for the Horse-themed Birthday Party
The younger the birthday child and their guests, the easier it is to celebrate indoors and simply decorate everything beautifully. The best decoration for young children is one they can play with!
Horse-shaped balloons and garlands are always great. I usually order a large set of party decoration matching the theme for little money.
Does your child have a Duplo, Lego, or Playmobil horse farm? Use it as decoration and a backup program point for free play when the kids need some quiet time!
- Garlands with horse motifs
- Tablecloths and disposable dishes with horse motifs
- Horseshoes
- Hay bales as decoration for the stable look
- Horse and pony figures and stuffed animals
- Playmobil, Duplo, or Lego horse farm or farmhouse with horses
- Horse medals – these can be wonderfully used for a game!
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3. Costumes, Horse Toys, and Rider Accessories
Cowboy costumes, horse tails, horse masks, and hobby horses – definitely offer children the opportunity for role-playing! Horse toys and rider and cowboy accessories for dressing up are not only great for younger children for free play. You can also use costumes and toys as decoration and for horse games. Believe me, the photos that are taken are worth every penny. At the latest for Carnival and Halloween, all the dressing up items will come into use again and be played with.
- Horse masks
- Cowboy hats, riding helmets
- Horse care set
- Bridle and whip
- Hobby horses – if you’re lucky, you can find them for little money in the Euro store, and the decoration is also a toy
- Obstacles
4. Invitation to the Horse-themed Children’s Birthday Party
An horseshoe as an invitation or a crafted horse head can be made with relatively little effort on an afternoon together with your child.
If you’re planning a horse-themed birthday party with a specific theme like “horse racing,” “tournament,” or “treasure hunt,” choose a corresponding motif!
If you (or your child) aren’t the crafters, you can buy sets with invitation cards featuring horse motifs on Amazon*. You just have to fill them out, saving a lot of time.
Ideas for Creative Horse-themed Invitations
- Cut horse heads out of colored paper, stick the mane in a different color, and attach a decorative tournament ribbon. Write the invitation text on the back.
- Cut out horseshoes, glue them on cardboard, and let your child color and decorate the horseshoes
- Craft tournament ribbons as birthday invitations
5. Pony Riding at the Horse-themed Birthday Party
If there is an opportunity, organize pony riding for the little birthday guests. The experience of sitting on a real pony or horse is unbeatable. But unfortunately, it is often expensive, and very few will have a riding stable around the corner. However, you don’t have to give up on riding!
Do you know those toy horses on wheels that children roll with up-and-down movements, like real riding? This promotes coordination and balance, making it a nice motor skills toy. And unfortunately, it’s also very expensive. However, there is also the option to rent one or two horses on wheels, for example, here!
If you decide to buy a horse on wheels – wow, what a fantastic birthday gift for your horse-loving child! If you’re renting, if it’s financially possible for you, rent two horses and set up a real tournament or horse race for the horse-themed party!
6. Tournament, Horse Racing, Obstacle Course – 5 Horse Games for the Children’s Birthday Party
![Horse Themed Birthday Party Ideas For Games Crafts Amp More "Ideas for horse games for a horse themed birthday party"](https://www.abenteuerfreundschaft.de/relaunch/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/pferdeparty-kindergeburtstags-spiele.jpg)
If you are planning a tournament or several horse games with or without competition, it’s worth getting tournament ribbons as a reward for all children!
- Jumping Tournament with Hobby Horses: Set up an obstacle course with a start and finish. Make sure the obstacles are not too high to be easily jumped over with hobby horses. Either the kids can simply ride the course and be cheered and applauded. Or it can be a real competition where the time is measured for each child to ride through the obstacle course, and it’s evaluated whether obstacles were touched.
- Olympic Dressage Riding: The kids all come up with a freestyle dressage routine with their hobby horse. Dressage riding is a discipline in equestrian sports where the horse performs desired gymnastic exercises as requested by the rider. Since in this horse game the child plays both rider and horse, the goal is to showcase tricks: great jumps, graceful turns, etc.
- Funny Horse Race with Hobby Horses or Horses on Wheels: All children line up with their hobby horses side by side at the starting line. At the finish line, there is a large pile of various clothing items that can be put on or carried. Upon the starting signal, all children ride there, dismount, put on an item, mount again, ride back to the starting line, make a U-turn, and ride back to the pile to put on the next item. This continues until the last item is put on or carried, and they gallop to the finish line. The child with the most items on wins.
- Knight’s Tournament: In this horse game, the children are knights. Two children at a time mount hobby horses or horses on wheels and compete against each other. Each child receives a pool noodle as a weapon and stands opposite each other. Amidst thunderous applause and cheers from parents and children, they gallop towards each other and engage in a show fight with the pool noodles. As many knights can participate as they want. There doesn’t have to be a winner; the focus is on fun and role-playing.
- Horse Treasure Hunt: A treasure hunt is suitable for children aged 6 and older. Ideally, the children should be able to read so that you can use clues and tasks. You can easily set up a small treasure hunt indoors or outdoors by drawing arrows that the children follow to find the treasure. However, you can also expand the horse treasure hunt with a story, tasks, and game stations. This is usually most rewarding for children aged 8 and older.
7. Craft Ideas for Horse Enthusiasts
The best craft project for the horse-themed party is making your own hobby horse! Each child gets to design and then play with their horse. Genius!
Children can also craft horse wind chimes, paint horseshoes, create horse refrigerator magnets, or make horse keychains. I’ll be honest, I love crafting and could prepare and cut everything myself, but unfortunately, with a baby, I currently don’t have time for that. Fortunately, there are sets with all the accessories available online for a small cost. Here are some specific craft ideas with horses for you:
- Set of 5 hobby horses to craft
- Horse wind chime for crafting
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- Horseshoes for decorating
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- Horse refrigerator magnets for crafting
- Horse keychains for crafting
- Horse Craft Set
8. Horse Feeding – Snacks and Drinks for the Horse-themed Party
What do horses eat? Apples, vegetables, and hay. The first two foods are also liked by kids, but hay will be liked by very few. For those who are willing to make an effort, here are a few ideas.
Snacks
- Horse Paddock Cake
- Horse Apples: Meatballs with dip
- Horse Faces: Thaw mini frozen American-style cookies and paint horse heads on them with food coloring
- Horse Treats: Cookies cut out with a horse-shaped cookie cutter
- Horse Cupcakes: Bake cupcakes and decorate them with horse-shaped sugar sprinkles
- Veggie sticks with dips
Drinks for the Horse-themed Party
- Horse Trough (bowl with ladle) with water, with edible flowers floating in it
- Rider’s Punch
- Target Water with Adrenaline (water with syrup)
9. Party Favors and Memories of the Horse-themed Party
Usually, at our children’s parties, there are craft projects to take home, or the treasure from the treasure hunt is divided and taken home. Small gifts are part of children’s birthdays today. Personally, especially with younger children, I prefer to buy a sweet plush horse for each child to play with instead of many small things. But that’s a matter of taste.
Have fun at your horse-themed party for the children’s birthday!
Are you looking for more inspiration for your horse-themed party? If it can be a bit wilder, a Cowboy Party with Cowboy Games might be something. If your interest in kids birthday party themes is piqued, be sure to browse through our colorful Ideas for Children’s Birthdays.
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